This document discusses grey biotechnology, which refers to environmental applications of biotechnology focused on maintaining biodiversity and removing pollutants using microorganisms. Grey biotechnology plays a role in managing industrial pollution and encouraging biofuel use. It also works on recycling, reusing, and disposing of wastes to reduce environmental pollution, protect organisms, and conserve biodiversity. By eliminating environmental pollution, grey biotechnology reduces health risks from factors like contaminated air and water.

1. Grey Biotechnology
Slides made by Dr.
Saba Malik

2. Table of Content
 Introduction
 Biotechnology
 Grey Biotechnology
 Applications of Grey Biotechnology

3. Introduction
 Biotechnology is the technologies applied to biology, molecular biology, genetics, and many other
subfields of biology.
 Recent biotechnology develops breakthrough products and technologies to fight diseases, reduce our
environmental harm, feed the hungry, use less and cleaner energy, and have safer, cleaner and more efficient
industrial manufacturing processes.
 More than 250 biotechnology health care products and vaccines have been made available to patients,
many for previously untreatable diseases.
 More than 13.3 million farmers around the world use agricultural biotechnology to increase yields,
prevent damage from insects and pests and reduce damage done on environment due to farming.

4. Introduction
 Biotechnology uses biological processes such as fermentation and harnesses biocatalysts such as
enzymes, yeast, and other microbes to become microscopic manufacturing plants.
 Biotechnology fuels the world by streamlining the steps in chemical manufacturing processes by 80%
or more.
 Biotechnology is lowering the temperature for cleaning clothes and potentially saving $4.1 billion
annually, improving manufacturing process efficiency to save 50% or more on operating costs.
 Further reducing use of and reliance on petrochemicals, using biofuels to cut greenhouse gas
emissions by 52% or more, decreasing water usage and waste generation, and tapping into the full
potential of traditional biomass waste products.

5. Types of biotechnology
 Grey Biotechnology
 Green Biotechnology
 Red Biotechnology
 White Biotechnology
 Blue Biotechnology
 Yellow Biotechnology

6. Grey Biotechnology
 Grey Biotechnology refers to environmental applications.
 it is focused on the maintenance of biodiversity and the removal of pollutants/contaminants using
microorganisms.
 Environmental biotechnology is a multidisciplinary branch of science covering wide aspects of day-to-
day life, where environmental pollution is one of the major challenges faced by environmental
biotechnologists.
 Under normal circumstances, remediation of the pollution related to soil, water, and air is naturally taken
care of by recycling of the natural resources.

7. Grey Biotechnology
 Microbial biotechnology offers environmentally friendly approaches that can be implemented
effectively for environmental bioremediation.
 Aspects of microbial- mediated bioremediation process can benefit the environment by
exploiting the capabilities of microorganisms that enable the utilization of noxious compounds,
thereby transforming them into utilizable intermediates and value-added products.
 Different microbial metabolites such as enzymes, biosurfactants, emulsifiers, organic acids, and
solvents play a significant role in bioremediation of contaminated sites.

8. Application of Grey Biotechnology
 Grey biotechnology has made an invaluable contribution to the protection of the
environment by reducing the over-exploitation and pollution of the ecosystem.
 Its application can be divided into following Categories
 Industrial
 Environmental
 Biodiversity
 Healthcare

9. Industrial
 No industries are set up to pollute the environment, but the environment becomes polluted due to
inability of managing the emissions of gases and sewage.
 Due to the growing population and human settlement, there is not enough space to establish
industrial zones apart from human settlements.
 Grey biotechnology has a role to play in managing the pollution from such industries and
encouraging the use of biofuels as much as possible.
 Since most of the pollution comes from the industries, its management has taken on a challenging
responsibility.

10. Environmental
 In order to make daily life easier, people have invented and used many alternatives.
 Failure to manage such facilities can lead to problems in the long run, such as the use of plastic
products..
 As harmful gases emitted from such wastes increase environmental pollution and spread various diseases.
 Grey Biotechnology has been working on recycling, reusing and disposing of such wastes. The method of
making compost manure from easily digestible goods is also economically beneficial.

11. Biodiversity
 The existence of a micro-organism is as significant as terrifying creatures in relation to ecosystems and
biodiversity.
 It is important to understand that human life existence is impossible on earth without other creatures.
 Grey biotechnology has been managing waste to protect the lives of organisms from environmental
pollution.
 Conservation of biodiversity is the way of preserving life existence. Not only the limited creatures that
directly benefit us, but also bacteria, fungi, viruses and other predatory animals are equally important to the
ecosystem.

12. Health Care
 If the air we inhale, water we drink, food we eat and the environment we stay are polluted then we don’t
need to travel any more to get further diseases and infections.
 Grey biotechnology eliminates the risk of getting sick by removing environmental pollution even if it does
not invent drugs like other branches of biotechnology.
 Grey biotechnology is considered more important for health than a hospital as just infected patients are
treated in hospitals, but this technology protects all against possible future infections.
 Some infections can even be spread by hospital waste. Therefore, Sanitization is much more concerned.